The present invention relates to showering devices such as personal handshower assemblies having adjustable spray patterns.
One type of showerhead is a fixed showerhead which is permanently mounted on a bathroom wall. Such fixed showerheads most often have a single spray pattern, albeit some have the ability to modify their spray pattern or characteristics (e.g. between pulsing and non-pulsing flow; between aerated and non-aerated flow).
Another type of showerhead is a “personal” hand-held type showerhead. Such showerheads are connected to a water source by a flexible tubing so that the head can be moved with much greater freedom by the person using the shower. There have been some attempts to provide personal hand showers with the ability to vary the spray pattern or other spray characteristics.
Primarily for ornamental reasons it is desirable to render the personal hand shower less bulbous than their initial designs, such as by being more like a sleek stick or pipe in external ornamental appearance. However, achieving that type of ornamentation can be difficult if one also wishes to give the consumer the ability to provide alternative spray patterns in an acceptable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,867 discloses one type of tubular dispensing mechanism. However, this device provides irregular and turbulent spray patterns as transitions occur between spray positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,760 discloses another tubular shower fixture. However, because of its sleeve mechanism it presents an undesirable external ornamental appearance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,369 discloses a tubular showerhead, but does not describe altering the flow pattern in an optimal manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,947 discloses a horizontally-mounted shower outlet tube. This device has an inner tube with a plurality of holes of various sizes and an outer tube with another set of holes. The inner tube is axially shifted to alter the flow. This is not a desirable system for a personal showerhead.
One plumbing manufacturer, HansGrohe, has marketed a personal showerhead in the form of a stick where the head permits selection between a radial spray pattern and an axial spray pattern. However, requiring the spray patterns to go in these different directions is not optimal.
Hence, a need still exists for improved personal handshowers that provide for altered forms of spray while having desirable external ornamental appearance.